September 10, 2003
Some City Council Reaction To Albina Ministerial Alliance Event
I'm still awaiting a response from Commissioner Francesconi (or his office), but since I now have responses from the other two City Council members who were present for this past Saturday's event outlining the findings and recommendations of the Albina Ministerial Alliance report on the Kendra James shooting, I figured I should pass those along now, and add the third if and when it arrives.
Going by the order received, here first is the response from Commissioner Randy Leonard:
On the reports recommendations, I agreed with some, disagreed with others, needed more info on some and actually thought one was too lenient.
The last first. The AMA recommended an officer be interviewed within 48 hrs after a shooting. That is too long. An Officer should be interviewed, in my opinion, immediately after a shooting. I can explain my reasoning if you like, however, I trust you understand why.
I also felt that the young man in the audience who talked about the day to day contact citizens have with police needed to be addressed. His comment was along the lines of the police need to be courteous, polite and professional in their interaction with the community. I share his deep felt concern. Having worked with and around the police for 25 yrs as a firefighter, I know many, many standup, first rate, 100% professional police officers. However, as the AMA pointed out as well, it only takes a few with bad attitudes to cause a broad brush painting of the whole police force. I knew some of those police officers as well. This is an issue that must me addressed by training and, where appropriate, consistent disciplinary action.
I think the number of recommendations made by the AMA for the police to have the restrictions on when an officer may use a weapon are well intentioned but do not reflect what actually is possible in an emergency environment. What the AMA showed occurred in 5 seconds and was not even an accurate picture. AS you may recall, the video they showed of the individuals recreating the scene were all involved with a stationary vehicle. By all accounts, the vehicle was actually moving when the officer and Ms. James were struggling. I am concerned that we would create so much second guessing with the AMA's recommendations that in trying to help reduce violence we could actually cause, unintentionally, increased assualts/injuries of police officers and innocent civilians who are bystanders. This is a tough issue, however, I do believe that we need to focus on the recommendations made in the PARC report -as opposed to those re: restrictions on the police using their weapons made by the ABA- as the appropriate changes needed to make the police more accountable when shootings occur.
I realize it is popular right now to minimize whatever actions Ms. James took that night and to assume that the police lied, conspired and covered up after the shooting. As I have said, I have deep -and unanswered - concerns on the issue of prompt medical attention for Ms. James. However, I cannot discount her role in allowing the incident to escalate to the level that it did up to the tragic moment she was shot.
And here is the response from Commissioner Sten:
I was at the the AMA event through the recommendations and left before the public testimony began. On the whole, I think the work of the ad hoc committee is courageous and appropriate. I don't agree with all of their points of view, but I think they are on the right track in terms of their recommendations. I felt it was important to be there in person to send a message that I appreciate their work. I thought the tone of the event was right, and I admire the way they approached a volatile situation. It was pointed and passionate, but also constructive. In my experience, that is a very hard combination to achieve. I believe they accomplished it.
I'm honestly not ready to say which of their recommendations I specifically support, primarily because I haven't had the time to digest them and think about it in any detail. My plan is to form some more specific opinions and be ready for the report back to Council from Chief Foxworth. I believe that is about 30 days out. Though I tend to be quick to share specifics, I need to get this set of issues right before making any specific comment. I would say that I agree with the general intent and what I believe they are trying to achieve. I have been a supporter of real citizen review of deadly force incidents for many years. Though I lost that decision when we created the IPR several years ago, my position helped create the impetus for the PARC report. I imagine there will be many opposite points of view, which I would like to hear, but the call for an inquest and other specific steps do make intuitive sense to me. Given lawsuits and the potential, albeit somewhat remote, of an eventual Council hearing on the James incident itself, I don't feel that I can make any comment on that event, but I do have serious concerns.
Meanwhile, we all await the posting of the report itself, originally scheduled to be posted on the Portland Copwatch website this week, but now inexplicably (and quite annoyingly) delayed until after September 12.